Scar Tissue
by DawiL
Summary: After he and his girlfriend were killed by a gang, Jason rises from the death to avenge the crime. A classic Crowstory, except for one point: There will be a second crow, who is still alive...


_As usually all charcters in this story are fictitious ones. Any similarity to real persons is none of the author's intention and neither any statement nor opinion in this story is meant to hurt or to offend anybody by it . I don't own the Crow or the Raven, but all characters mentioned in this story are mine._

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**Scar Tissue**

**Chapter 1:**

It was about midnight and so cold that every little bit of warm was immediately turned to steam. A cold wind blew above the bay so that the almost gray looking water was ruffled.

At night nobody took the risk to come to this part of the city where strange people gathered and often dead bodies were found But even the criminals avoided the cold when no human person went outside.

Nothing human.

The creature that returned to life on the ground of the sea wasn't human- not in the common way.

He could feel how his body was regenerating.

Veins, muscles, skin, organs and finally his face formed as if the things that had happened to him had been made undone by someone.

He moved his legs and arms carefully and got to know how icy the water felt like. When he swam slowly to the surface, the memories came back like indescribable pain running through his body.

Like he was torn to pieces.

Having reached the surface he screamed, a horrible, scary scream which seemed to express all the pain he had suffered from.

He swam to the beach and waded out of the water. The surrounding cold made him shiver, so that he put his arms around himself, because his torn clothes didn't help at all.

A dark shadow reached up into the air from the branch of a tree and landed directly in front of the young man.

The crow gave him a thoughtful look out of its deep black eyes, so that he knew at once that the crow was the one, who had brought him back from the land of dead.

"Why..? " his voice sounded almost like the croak of the crow. He cleared his throat an asked again: "Why me?"

"Because you've still one mission, Jason. Vengeance for that, what they did to you .. and for that, what they did to Lily.."

"Lily..," Jason whispered the name in a breaking voice.

He could almost see her face at that day when she had asked him if he loved her.

"More then everything in the world" had his answer been.

"Only that?" had she answered pretending being offended.

"More then my own life. For you I'd rise from the dead."

"I know," she had answered and kissed him. He saw her smile in front of him, the shimmer of her eyes .

But his memories were immediately replaced by some other pictures...

._.. Lily cries. Her long hair hangs tousled in front of her face. Nevertheless the injuries are visible. Blood running out of the numerous little wounds in her face mixes with her tears so that it looks like she cried blood instead of tears like a statue of a Madonna. She cowers on the floor and has put her arms around herself as a try to protect herself._

_She shivers as one of the threatening looking men comes closer to her. _

_He strokes her hair, an almost tender gesture, that seems grotesque in this connection, and lifts her cheek with his hand so that he can see her face and the tears shimmering in her eyes._

_Lily moves backwards when he follows the contours of her mouth with his finger, but her fear is only a pleasure for him. _

_" Guess that girl only needs a real man!" he shouts to his pals, who start to grin in an unpleasant way. _

_"Hey, darling, would you like that?" he addresses to Lily, who sobs silently. Her look is a cry for help._

_Jason has spent the whole time with trying to free from the two other members of the gang's hold. Now he manages to break away by kicking one of the guy's shin-bone, who's so surprised that he lets him go. Jason's only thought is not letting it happen that they do this to Lily._

_At least it's only his fault and not hers._

_He rushes at the one standing next to Lily, but the two others pull him away. _

_"That has hurt, you bastard," says the one he has kicked and beats him right into the stomach. _

_But all the punches he receives don't matter to Jason, he just wants to save Lily. _

_"Let her go, she isn't guilty. She didn't know 'bout it. Kill me, if you have to, but leave her out of this," he entreats the guys. _

_But their leader sneers at Jason and answers: "Let me think about it for a minute...hm, no way. It'll be only half the fun and you should learn your lesson what happens to you if you try to cheat our boss, SilverBullet."_

_"He can get his money back! I'll get the cash but I need at least two days for it! I promise..", Jason is begging now, but Skull, the leader of the gang, refuses: "You should have thought 'bout that earlier. And why should I trust in the words of a little punk like you..? Don't take it personally. Me and my partners do only our job- thought it's a lot of fun!"_

_He addresses to the two others:" Take care that our friend here won't miss anything!.." _

_"Fuck off with your show here...Don't try daring to touch her, you sick pervert!" Jason screams, but in this moment one of the others slaps him._

_"Don't offend our boss!" _

_While he's feeling his own blood running down his face, Jason shuts his eyes. He knows that he's no chance and he doesn't want to see what is going to happen next. Then they hit him again, again and again. Somehow anything around him turns to black. While doing so he hears Skull's voice again: "Don't use him too badly, so that he's still able to see the final!"..._

_  
_  
Jason opened his eyes again, his face was full of hate. The desire for vengeance became overwhelming.

"They're gonna pay for it!" he said.

The black bird flew over to him and took place on his shoulder. Together they left this sad and desolate place.

**Chapter 2:**

Jason went up the stairs to his and Lily's apartment. The police barricade tape on the doorframe had been torn, whoever had done that. As he entered the apartment his memories came back, only good ones which made it much more painful for him than anything else. Although it hurt , he could manage it, in contrast to the moment when he entered their bedroom.

He saw the dried rose in a vase standing on a mall table and the small box which lay beside it. Everything looked as if Lily had just gone away for a short time and would return in a few minutes. He touched the rose and...

_...He gives the rose to Lily._

_"It's so beautiful." _

_"Like you. you should be with someone who can give you lots of roses and not with someone like me..."_

_"I prefer one rose given because of real affection to thousands give only as a habit. And I don't want anyone else, only you, because I love you.."..._

Jason dropped the rose as if it was red hot, though that wouldn't have mattered to him. Even the injuries the thorns had cut into his hand have healed immediately. Accidentally he pushed the small box so that it fell to the floor. Without thinking about the consequences of this he lifted it and in the moment when his hand touched it, the feeling was so strong that he couldn't stand the pain...

_...Lily opens the box. Inside is a ring. _

_"Jason?" she asks, her eyes are wide opened with surprise._

_Jason takes a deep breath and tries to hide how nervous he is when he asks her the question: "Lily .. do you want to marry me?"_

_Lily hugs him and whispers a "Yes" in his ear..._

Jason threw the box to the other side of the room.

Only because of the ring they had to die.

For this he had needed the money SilverBullet paid to him believing that he'd fulfill his charge. Jason smashed the vase to the wall, the glass broke to thousands of pieces.

He threw everything he could find to the wall, wishing to have the possibility to erase every memory.

But he pain just grew.

When he sank down to the floor he touched their bed with one hand...

_...He wakes up at night and notices that Lily is awake, watching him. _

_"Am I disturbing you in some way?" Jason asks with an insecure voice. _

_"No..surely not," Lily answers, " Don't laugh me, but I just watched you sleep. I don't know myself why .." Her smile in the dark is sweet and shy at the same time. _

_"You are a crazy girl. ." _

_"Yes, but isn't everyone crazy in some way ?"..._

It felt like being stabbed with sharp knives.

Then he noticed footsteps, someone approaching to the room.

And then this voice, well-known to him:"Is anybody in here?..Whoever you are, go away..or..I " "Or you do what?" Jason rose from the floor and was confronted with Bethany, Lily's best friend."Guess you can't kill me anymore..specially not by trying to stab me with that key."

He pointed to the key Bethany held in her hand as if it was a weapon, similar to what a lot of women do when they're on the way back home in the dark and hear some noises behind them.

"Jason?" Bethany stared at him as if she couldn't believe this. "Why have you come back? Are you sorry or are you one of those perverts who come back to the place where they've.. killed someone.?."

"Bethany, what are you talking about?" Jason started talking and approached to her, but she gave him a hateful look and said: "Have had fun when you killed her that way, you sick bastard? Is this some special fun to you first to promise a girl that you love her... and later to set her on fire ...and burn her to death?" She started to cry. " What did she do to you that she deserved to die?"

"Bethany, ..I didn't kill her." Jason now stood face to face with her. " I loved Lily.."

"Please, please stop telling those lies! ..I hate you, " she yelled, but he just took her hand so that she was able to see his memories when their fingertips met...

._.."I've still got a special surprise for you two." Skull stands next to Jason. "Hey .. can you still hear what I say or are you already dead?" _

_Jason moves his head slowly as if he tries to nod, though this it's unclear to which of the two questions he agrees. _

_"You've always liked fire, haven't you? So you'll surely like this. Maybe for Lily-," he mentions her name in a way for that Jason would like to kick him very hard, "For Lily it maybe won't - no , it surely won't be a pleasant experience. But for you she'll do this -won't you , Lily?" He turns to Lilly, whose eyes look totally empty._

_"This should be an agreement, I guess. Candlelight and all those things can be very romantic." , he laughs and after he's given the signal to Ripper, a violent looking guy with tattooed arms, who pours a container of gasoline over her._

_Jason normally doesn't realize the disgusting smell of gasoline, but now he thinks that this could be the way like it might smell in hell. _

_He tries to stand up, but being strongly injured makes every move much more difficult. Shark , another member of the gang, throws a lighter to Skull. The flame casts shadows on his face and on Lily's too, who doesn't seem to notice what happens. _

_"Hey, Jason, time to say goodbye to your little girlfriend," Skull's voice is sneering and unpleasant. _

_Then he tells Lily: "Sorry darling. ..But you didn't think that would become some kind of serious relationship, or did you? Don't mind that, nevertheless it has been kinda nice time with you."_

_He opens the lighter by snipping. _

_"No , don't ..," Jason's voice is only just a whisper, he knows that there's no more hope. Skull shakes his shoulders , then he sets the flame at the seam of Lily's long dress. _

_Soon the flames grow up to the ceiling. _

_Lily's screams sound in the night, soon they die away._

_"Lily..," Jason is crying, but he doesn't feel anything anymore. _

_" Liked it?" Skull's face is directly in front of Jason's, who thereupon spits in his face. _

_"Oh, why are you gonna be so naughty? You time'll come too, you little bastard." Skull's evidently angry. _

_He and the other members of the gang take their guns, then he asks him :" Any last words maybe?"_

_Jason stands up slowly, he's hardly able to. He looks to the three men: "You're gonna pay for this..!" _

"How tragically though not very original," is Ripper's comment like. Then they point the weapons at Jason.

"What about 9 bullets? 9 is the sum out of 666, that'll please to SilverBullet." Jason feels the bullets hitting him, he tastes his own blood.

"For the ninth, deadly on, a bullet made of silver- SilverBullets personal sign. -Even if you aren't worth it!" Skull holds the pistol to Jason's head. "We'll meet again in hell!"

Jason believes to se the shadow of a black bird at the window.

Then Skull pulls the trigger...

Jason took his hands away from Bethany's. They two shivered and he hugged the crying girl. The crow sat on the frame of a mirror and watched them. Bethany tried to calm herself:" I'm sorry .. I..", she wiped away her tears. "Vengeance for your and her death. That's your reason for having come back..".

Jason nodded.

"But how? You're already.."

He took off his torn shirt, so that Bethany was able to see the scars the bullets had carved into his skin. Then he put on another black shirt

"Yes, I'm dead ! But does that make a difference to me ?.. The crow has brought me back to take revenge on the men who killed us."

Bethany gave him a look a if she still couldn't believe, but then, after having watched him for some time, she said:" Something's missing, I guess."

She took him to the mirror and told him to sit down. Jason avoided the mirror while the girl painted his face with some white make-up.

Afterwards she lined his mouth and eyes with some black. She also painted some kind of cross-shape on his eyes so that he looked like some kind of sad clown.

While checking her work, Bethany whispered something, maybe only to herself: "._.And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon that is dreaming.." _

"That's Poe, right?" Jason faked a smile. "Thanks for.."

"Yes," she answered absent-minded, while her glances moved between Jason, the mirror, the window and the crow, who landed right upon Jason's shoulder.

He went to the door when Bethany called after him: "I'm sorry for having called you a murderer.. I .. it was only.." , she stopped.

"I know," Jason shut the door and left her alone.

"Wait!" But he was already gone.

Only one of the crow's black feathers lying on the floor showed that it hadn't been just a dream.

**Chapter 3:**

Jason stood in front of the 'Gun', a totally decaying club, a location for gigs of unknown garage-bands.

If he was lucky he would meet here two of the gang members.

The "Gun" should have been pulled down yet, but no-one was interested in this fact; in contrary to that the club was crowded though no band was on stage at the moment.

Jason passed by some kids, who stared surprised at him and the crow, whispering and pointing on him.

Backstage the musicians of a band prepared for their gig tonight. Among them was an about 20 years old man with some kind of strange black-white spiky hair, who had taken a seat apart the others. He was playing the guitar.

Almost in trance, his eyes were shut and he only paid attention to the music.

When he had met him for the last time, his hair had been blue and his outfit totally different, but Jason recognized Tyler just by his typical way of playing the guitar.

In the moment when Jason stood directly behind him, one chord of Tyler' s guitar snapped. He cursed silently and leaned the guitar on a graffiti-covered wall.

Noticing someone being there he said nerved: "I know, you're my greatest fan. But I don't give autogramms..."

" I've already got a pile of them at home. I use them to prevent a table from being wacky ...Anyway, thanks for asking.."

"Jase?" Tyler's voice sounded surprised, however shaky too, so that Jason prepared himself for again being accused of murder.

But his friend reacted in different way. "You're still alive...I mean , Skull and his guys tell everyone, who stays long enough to listen to their old fairy-tales, that they had killed you and Lily...And I believed those lies. Where have you been for the whole time?"

Jason shook his head in a sadly.

"On the ground of the sea. They didn't lie to you. They've killed Lily and me a year ago."

"You try to tell me that you're dead?! But how can you be here when.." He touched Jason's hand as if he tried to make sure that he was real. By this felt the icy cold of his skin. "Are you some kind of ghost?"

"No, I'm no ghost even as I'm dead. I don't know exactly what I've become after the crow brought me back to avenge Lily's and my dead.."

" Why have you painted your face for that?" Tyler asked, but Jason just shrugged.

"Hm .. I've come here 'cause I've thought that perhaps you can help me...I mean, have you seen some of Skull's guys today?"

Tyler thought about it for a short time, then he said:" Ripper's here every night , you know - tryin' to sell drugs o the kids," he made a grimace. "And Shark's here, too, I guess".

"...Thanks ...for believing me and not taking me for some kind of sick psycho.."

" That's alright...At least I was the one giving you the advice to have dealings with those lunatics. If I hadn't..."

" It's not your fault...nevertheless you're my best friend.."

Tyler looked down to the floor, unable to speak while Jason took a glance to the stage."You should exchange that chord...It's your turn in a few minutes.."

Tyler hugged him, then he picked up the guitar and said:" I'm sorry for that what happened to you and Lily.."

"I know" He disappeared in the crowd.

**Chapter 4:**

Shark was put his arm around the shoulders of the girl, who wore an extra-short dress, while he was whispering: "I'm Shark.Think, they call me that way 'cause I'm so dangerous.."

"Or maybe because you're as dumb as a fish," the girl pushed his am away from her. "Do you take me for stupid?" She turned around and went away.

"I love women with temperament," he murmured, then he added for not losing the rest of his honour:"But you're just an ordinary bitch!"

"That's not very polite!"

Shark wasn't able to see who was talking to him. So he turned around and was confronted with a young man, probably about 20 years old, who sat face to face with him.

Shark was convinced he knew him, but otherwise he might have remembered having met such a weird looking person: The man's whole face was covered with white make-up, in contrast to the black lines around his eyes, so that it seemed as if black tears had run down his cheeks. The black make-up surrounding his mouth pretended an ironical smile, so that Shark felt as if he sat next to a sad clown .

Because of the facts that the young man's dark-blond hair covered part of his eyes and casted shadows on his face, Shark wasn't able to see him clearly.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want?", Shark tried pretending to be bored, indeed he started to feel unwell, almost scared.

The young man leaned his arms on the table, resting his head upon them, while asking: " Remember me?"

Now, as he could see his face, which made him recognize the person he was faced with, Shark's eyes widened in a really scared way. He was so shocked that he wasn't even able to talk clearly "You? ..But you're dead!..You can not be here!..Nine bullets, one to the head, nobody can survive that!"

"Who said that I'm still alive?"

Shark tried to escape, but Jason took his arm .

"I'm your worst nightmare," he told Shark, whose hands were even shaking when he finally managed to grab his gun.

"If I have to, I'll shoot you for a second time."

He aimed to Jason's head, but he just hit his hand. "Oh, my hand! That hurts so much!" Jason cried in a childish, whiny voice as he raised his hand to let Shark see that the wound was healing in seconds. He used this moment when Shark just stared on his hand to snatch away the gun.

Then he held it to Shark's had.

"What the fuckin' hell are you?"

"Death, simply death. And I've come for you..Guess it's time to say goodbye..," Jason pulled the trigger and shot Shark.

Nobody there seemed to have noticed neither the dead man nor the one who had been dead for long time.

**Chapter 5:**

Finding Ripper wasn't as difficult, because he always hung around in a gloomy by-street close to the club, where he attended to his job as a drug- dealer.

While hiding in the shadows of some buildings Jason heard Ripper arguing with some girl.

"..I'm not some kind of charity organization!" the man told her.

"Please. I ..need ..some," her voice sounded weak. "Why can't I give you the other half of the money later? Only for this time.."

"Why should I ..But on the other hand I'm at least no monster. For you there are some other ways to pay - I'm not talkin' 'bout MasterCard ..."

"That's really disgusting."

Ripper and the girl turned around .

"You even dare destroying the life of kids!" Jason went closer to Ripper, who was obviously angry about his appearance.

"Why the hell should that be some of your business? I just do my job! Why don't you do favor to everyone here and fuck off?"

"But now it's getting really funny." Jason was nearly face to face with him.

"Funny? What kind of weirdo are you?"

After having taken a glance at Jason he added: "By the way, you're looking pretty sick - like one of those fuckin' junkies." With a nod he pointed to the girl, who looked like some kind of ghost by being almost skin and bones; her face with dark rings under her eyes was almost as white as Jason's .

"..Or isn't this the consequence of taking drugs?...Do you have some kind of disease ?"

He started to keep a distance, but Jason followed him while answering:"If you take 'death' as a disease."

"Do you mean by this you've got AIDS?" Ripper was really shocked even though not of compassion but of the fear of getting infected, even if he knew that this was impossible by just standing next to an infected person. Nevertheless he had killed people, he was afraid of dying . Jason shook his head in a sad way.

" The disease I suffer from is much more graver than anything you can imagine. Death can be a fuckin' infectious sickness ...I guess that you're already become infected."

Ripper drew a knife and yelled at him: "Have you gone totally mad, man?!"

Jason shrugged, but he didn't prepare for going away, so that Ripper felt threatened and tried to hurt him with the knife.

"Nice attempt!" Jason wrested the knife out of his hand by breaking Ripper's wrist.

Ripper cursed .

When he felt the metal of the blade next to his throat, he stuttered: "What .. what do you want from me, you psycho? Some Heroin? Cash? ..You get what you want if you just leave.."

"No. I want to stay and I'd like you to take a look at my face."

Despite of all the make-up Ripper recognized the person he was faced with.

"Have had a nice little déjà-vue?"

"You're dead!"

"I 've already told you ," Jason answered. "But I'd like to know if you know how it's like to feel pain. ..Do you still remember Lily?.."

Ripper smirked though having a knife next to his throat: " Sure I do! Who wouldn't remember? She was damn hot .."

"Don't.Talk. About.Her.That.Way!"

"Why not? She was only some kind of ordinary slut.."

In this moment Jason lost control and hit him so hard that he fell to the ground.

" You fuckin' bastard, you raped and murdered her ! .. You're gonna be sorry for ever having touched her...And it'll hurt, believe me."

However he was still lying on the ground, Ripper couldn't stop laughing. "Now I'm totally nuts! I'm talkin' to a ghost!"

Jason punched him again.

"Do you think a ghost could do that?"

Instead of an answer Ripper spit some blood to the ground, then he tried to get up while murmuring along.

"What did you say?" Jason asked, but then he felt a blade carving into his chest.

"I said, I'd kill you again, if I have to as long as you're really dead."

With all the blood around his mouth, Ripper looked like some kind of monster. But Jason just pulled the knife out of the wound, that healed immediately.

"Sorry, pal. You're the one who's going to die." He stabbed him with the knife.

Ripper uttered some unclear words, but though he knew hat he was dying, there was still some fear in his eyes.

"You should be pleased that you're so lucky to die so fast, 'cause I've got much more important things to do than spending some time with a bastard like you. But before you die, you're gonna tell me where I can find your boss."

"Skull ..is ..with...SilverBullet...in...his...club."

Now he was hardly able to speak, bloody foam issued from his mouth.

"Thanks for the information. Why didn't you decide earlier to be a good boy? That could have saved me a lot of time?", Jason asked him, but he couldn't answer no more.

"Remember me to your friends in hell", he added when Ripper finally died.

The girl was still there; she cowered on the ground, trembling because of being on a turkey and of fear, too. In this moment she reminded him of Lily in the visions he had seen, although this girl was younger than her, only about sixteen, almost still a child.

When he approached to her she whispered: "Please..don't hurt me.."

He shook his head and told her:" You needn't be afraid, I won't hurt you."  
When she had calmed down a bit even if she was still sobbing, he added:" The person who's hurting you the most is you yourself. Drugs are no way out of problems. They just make you fall deeper. That's just some kind of slow suicide. Life's too precious to throw it way."

He almost believed seeing all the pain she suffered from in her eyes, her fears and sorrows so that he decided to help her.

But this voice in his head told him:"Leave her. That's none of your business. If you waste your time and lose this feeling of anger inside yourself, you'll lose everything."

"So what? It's my decision, isn't it? "

"If you want it that way.But then you'll have to bear the consequences for that."

"I'm sure I'll cope with that !"

He took the girl's hands... saw the half-healed scars in her elbows..absorbed her pain...healed her.

Now he felt weakened, his wounds reopened, blood ran down his skin, soaking into his shirt. The girl touched Jason's chest at the part where he was injured. He winced, even this careful touch caused pain.

"I'm sorry," she started to talk, but then she noticed the blood on her hand."You're bleeding.." Jason nodded while pressing his hand on the wound "I'm O.K."

In fact he had to stop the bleeding as fast as possible, because he was sure that he wouldn't like to die again without having taken revenge.

He had become vulnerable by disobeying the orders. Now there was no doubt that he was as mortal as an average human.

This fact made everything much more difficult then it had already been before.

"Damn," he murmured while realizing that he lost a lot of blood. Soon his legs became shaky and lightflashes passed in front of his eyes.

"Are you sure that you're O.K.?" the girl asked him.

"Yes.." At this moment another person entered the street, a boy at the girl's age, but without that absent look in his eyes.

"Kim?" he approached to the girl."Why do you do this? "

"She gave him a look and said:"It's only because..I were afraid.."

"But me, too. I'm afraid of being too late one day and ..finding you when your heart isn't beating anymore. You'll kill yourself by that ."

She wiped away one single tear on his cheek.

"I'll stop it. I mean, I believe that I've just don it -in the moment when..".

She turned around to Jason, who said: "Believe in yourself..".

"Wait!" Kim shouted, but he was already gone.

"Who's that? ..And why has he got blood on his clothes ?" her boyfriend asked.

" I don't know who he is, but..," she stopped talking for a moment, then she asked him:"Do you believe in angels?"

**Chapter 6:**

Jason could hardly walk, after a short distance he collapsed.

"Didn't I tell you about that?"

This sneering voice again.

" I won't give in now. Why don't you try to help me, whoever you are?"

As the voice kept on laughing, he yelled:"I.Am.Not.Going.To.Die.Now! I'll kill those fuckin' bastards, even if I'm only able to crawl!"

"Really outstanding, this kind of willpower.A great character..Alright.If you promise to be a good boy from now on, you'll get a second chance.Your last chance -What do you think about that?"

"O.K. I promise."

Speaking was very strenuous to him, but in the next second he felt the superhuman powers returning to his body, so that his wounds started to heal.

"Learn from that", the voice suggested, making him really angry.

"Why don't you learn to shut up?" he murmured nerved.

The voice didn't answer.

**Chapter 7:**

Although being in a notorious part of the city, SilverBullet's club looked totally new and exclusive. So when the doorkeeper, a man in a black suit, who was totally occupied with setting his sunglasses, saw Jason, he told him to piss off.

After a few minutes he noticed him being still there he said:"Didn't I tell you to leave? The boss doesn't want to be disturbed by anybody, no matter what's the subject. He's celebrating some private jubilee"

He hesitated to take off his sunglasses for having a better sight.

"Just look at you! Do you kids think that's cool to walk around like a zombie or are you just some crank?"

"Maybe," he answered. "I've only one request. I mean, could you deliver a message to your boss?"

"What's the point and who sent you?"

"Tell him that he's going to die - tonight! " Jason knocked him down."But when I think about it, I guess it's better to tell him myself."

At first sight the club was empty, but Jason knew that Silverbullet would be on the backroom. "Let's drink to the big deal..and to our boss!" Skull lifted his glasses .

"Thanks," SilverBullet laughed. He was a gray-haired man in a suit with pin stripes, looking like some typical Mafia-boss. Other people might have looked ridiculous by having this style and behavior, but this wasn't true of him; in contrary this gave him authoritarian aura and made him look like a gentleman in an old black-and-white movie.

"Sorry to disturb your party, boys." Jason entered the room but Silverbullet only turned around in a bored manner.

"Who's that?" he asked.

"Just call me your personal nightmare.I'm your biggest fear. I'm vengeance..."

SilverBullet didn't seem to be scared or confused by that. He lifted one of his eyebrows and said:" You're totally mad. But that's normal for clowns like you, right? ..Nevertheless, who the fuck are you? Should I recognize you?"

"I think so, but as I see that you don't..Maybe I have to fresh up your mind a little bit, even if I guess that your friend Skull can tell this story as well as I can."

"What the hell are you talkin' bout?" Skull defended himself.Then, when recognizing Jason he continued:"That's impossible! You just look like.."

"Death?" Jason suggested.

"That's right. I'm dead.For exactly one year now..-Thanks to your nice killers," he told SilverBullet, "It's too bad that two of them have already gone to hell to reserve some room for you. Really too sad what happened to poor Shark and poor Ripper", he hesitated for a short time."But that's not as sad as what they did to Lily- Can you imagine what it feels like to be burned to dead?!"

"Burning..Now I know what you're talking about, though I don't know why you raise such a fuss about it.People keep on saying that the youngsters are disillusioned without goals and any sense of values- so your behavior seems pretty misplaced to me, even if I still don't know who you are. Are you this girl's brother- she was called Lily, right?"

He stayed unimpressed, not even afraid of Jason, while Skull looked like having gone insane; he laughed madly and murmured along:"Ghosts don't exist."

Then he took a gun, held it to Jason's head and said:"You're dead, or you'll be soon, however..What about playin' some Russian Roulette?"

As the cold metal touched his skin, he remembered...

_...Skull holds the gun to Jason's head and says the same words while the other members of the gang are grinning. _

_"Stop it. You forgot that the gun isn't even loaded," Jason answers nerved and pushes his arm away. _

_The others laugh being faced with Skull looking pissed, who just murmurs: "Think, you're some fuckin' brain, kid? But I've got a bullet with your name on it, whatever the fuck you're called - and it's for you .."_

_Then he addresses in a louder voice to Jason:"Isn't it too late for you to be still awake when you've got to go to school tomorrow? Does your Mommy know that you're here?" _

_While laughing along, Shark adds:"I suppose, she doesn't. When I met her some hours ago while she was looking for some 'customers', she seemed much more interested in getting some Crack...or in earning money.. Only 20$?! Has she lowered the price?" _

_Jason makes a bothered grimace, then he tells them:"When you've finished acting like fools, can we go back to the subject? I' m here because of the job for SilverBullet." _

_"Hey, calm down, man .Why the hell do you think the boss is payin' kids?" Skull's evidently nerved."I'm sure you're at least not old enough to buy some beer."_

_"I'm 21", Jason answers," And I know I'm someone like the person he's looking for that" _

_"Sure you are," Skull's laughing about him, "Maybe you want also to show some references?"_

_"I'd like to, but I think that the school documents 'bout the fact that I've been expelled from school for several times, because my favorite hobby at this time was trying to burn down the building, are destroyed now..maybe because of this fire breaking out during the graduation.." "Doesn't sound bad, I guess I underestimated you..Maybe there's a job for you..That means, if you agree to the boss' rules."..._

_  
_  
..."This time it's loaded," Skull whispered to Jason.

"Really? Didn't you spent already some bullets on killing innocent people?"

"What the hell ..How can you tell me what's right and what's wrong?!You've killed people, too." "Yes, but only your two pals, who deserved it...Not like those people you wanted to kill -people you have killed .."

"Hey, that needn't have happened if you had kept to the rules," SilverBullet answered as Skull just kept on laughing .

"The rules?" Jason yelled, "What kind of fair rules should yours be? I didn't want to become a murderer just for some fuckin' money! I promised to pay it back.."

"Sure. ..you knew up from the beginning what it was about."

"I thought I knew..I told your guys that I wouldn't kill anybody."...

._..His work was normally like damaging cars or stuff like that belonging to people, who didn't want to pay money to SilverBullet...But one day Skull has a different job for him. _

_"But there are still people in that house", Jason says after they had taken him there. _

_"So what? The guy who owns this all will be much more scared when he gets to know what has happened to his beloved wife and his kids." Skull laughs when he sees that Jason is really shocked."What are you expecting of me? That's my job..and by the way, yours too .So..?"_

_"No," Jason's voice is cool though in fact he's a bit scared of what might happen to him if he refuses._

_"No? What do you mean by that?" _

_"It means that I won't take part in that goddamn business here!"_

_"Are you sure?" "I am..'cause that would be murder." _

_"So what?...But the boss won't be pleased about that, believe me."..._

_  
_  
..."If you want justice you can get it. How about dying again?"

"Thanks for your offer, but I can do without it."

"And why have you taken along that silly bird?", Skull asked when seeing the crow siting on Jason's shoulder."Did you discover your love for animals? ..Whatever, the fuckin' bird is going on my nerves..". He aimed the weapon at the crow and pulled the trigger.

When the bullet hit the crow, Jason suddenly felt the pain; he saw blood running down his body. "I guess now you've got some problems," SilverBullet stated.

**Chapter 8:**

Bethany was still sitting at the same place on the burned ground, looking at the black feather in her hand when she heard the beating of a bird's wings behind her.

She turned her head around, so that she caught sight of another crow sitting on the window-sill.

"_He needs your help._."

"What has happened to Jason?" Bethany stood up and approached to the crow.

"_You have to help him.. otherwise his soul will be restless forever...he can't manage with it alone_."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Bethany pretended being unsuspecting, though she yet believed knowing about it.

"_You need to become like him._"

"Do I have to die for this first? Are you trying to explain to me that I should slit my wrists or something like that?!"

"_No. It'll do if you agree to becoming one of us for a short time.- So what have you decided for?_"

"I ...yes, I agree," she answered hesitating. "I guess that's the only thing I can decide for. I don't have a real choice, right?"

The voice didn't answer, but suddenly the girl felt the cold running through her veins...

Freezing her body and her feelings ...

Covering her...

Floating away fear, love and happiness until just hate, anger and the wish for revenge were left.

Though her heart was still beating she felt dead.

Dead and numb.

"What have you done to me?" she asked in a strange voice, not at all sounding similar to hers, "What have I become?!"

_"One of us_."

"And what are you?"

"_It's not good to ask too many questions..You have to hurry up, there's not much time left._"

Bethany took the make-up she had used for Jason's face and painted herself.

After having finished she glanced to the mirror, not to look at her face, but as if she was hoping to find some answers to her questions by that.

Her face hadn't changed at all though its expression seemed to be fixed and unnatural.

But the scariest thing was the look of eyes, the eyes of a dead person.

Bethany turned away quickly and called to the crow:"Hey, what are you waiting for?"

The bird flew upon her shoulder

"_Don't forget that if you don't stick to the rules, you'll be lost..forever_."

"Am I not lost already ?"

_"Maybe.._."

**Chapter 9:**

The man standing at the entrance of the club was till trying to clean his face of his own blood when he noticed the strange girl with her face painted totally white similar to a ghost.

"Oh no, how much of you fuckin' lunatics are there?!" He was really fed up. "I suggest you to go away if you don't want some trouble!"

"And what are you going to do if I run the risk?"

He laughed: "Do you think I'm afraid of a girl painted like a child on Halloween?"

"I suppose you don't," she gave in. "But believe me, you should ."

"Why don't you go home and continue playing with your Barbies or doing your homework , Missy?" he didn't take her for serious and started to make fun of her.

Bethany shrugged.

"Alright, if it's not possible to talk to you in a normal way.." She punched his face and used this moment of surprise to pass him by.

She left the empty room behind herself and entered the backroom.

**Chapter 10:**

Blood ran down the corners of Jason's mouth while he was lying on the floor. SilverBullet was aiming a weapon at him.

"Seems to me as if it's true that history repeats itself. Don't you think that's a good end for that?" "The end? Oh, but I've been looking forward to play with you.." Bethany was standing at the doorframe, smiling at SilverBullet.

A smile similar to the way the one of a little dead girl might have been like.

"And who are you? ...Such a pretty young lady shouldn't walk around like that." SilverBullet tried obviously to act the part of a gentleman.

"That fits only to scum like this guy here" He kicked Jason.

Bethany just kept on smiling and approached." Nice to make finally your acquaintance. I've been looking forward for a long time to getting to know my best friend's murderer."

"Why are you at once so angry ? Besides, he and not me did that"

He pointed to Skull who started yelling in an indignant voice:"Hey, that's not fair, boss! You can't do that.."

But SilverBullet told him to shut up .

"So you've killed my best friend and her boyfriend? Lily was almost like a sister of mine ..," Bethany began as Skull interrupted her:"This rage-show doesn't really fit to a chick like you. Why don't you calm yourself a little bit? Then you could be damn hot..though not like your best friend. But as a matter of fact I normally prefer women who like me voluntarily.."

"So you must be very lonely .."

Skull ignored her objection :"Hey, you aren't dead, are you?"

He laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Who knows.."

"Beth ..no, you have to go..," Jason gasped .

But Bethany shook her head, then she turned back to Skull. "You can't stop it, hm? But I'm sure I'd prefer committing suicide to sleeping with some wanker like you!"

"Oh, I see, you're just one fuckin' Lesbian..," Skull started yelling at her.

"Shut up. Or do you really believe I'm interested in your opinion concerning me? I'm sorry, but in any case you're dead, even if you had been a little bit more nicer to me."

She took an ornated sword hanging on the wall and stabbed it into Skull's body.

"That's for every woman and every girl you've ever abused or treated badly. And that-" she slit his throat before finally stabbing the blade to his throat"-Is for everyone you've killed!"

Skull collapsed, uttering some strange noises while blood ran out of his mouth and wounds.

He died after a few seconds.

"Thanks for helping me to get rid of him, darling. He started going on my nerves, but I hadn't yet enough time to spent it on killing this jackass... But in this case it's different. I think it'll be fun to kill you and your friend." SilverBullet aimed the gun at Bethany, who was meanwhile kneeling next to Jason, trying to help him."I'm sure he won't mind giving the lady the precedence."

"Leave her out of this," Jason begged him, but SilverBullet just answered: "That's noble minded, really, but anyhow useless as you're both going to die."

When he prepared for shooting them, the crow flew towards him and started picking out his eyes. He screamed of pain while trying to cover his eyes with his hands.

Bethany told Jason, who had managed to get up, to take the chance to escape.

But he refused by explaining:" It's alright for me if you go, but I have to stay to finish this all here...He's the person who cause all this. Without him Lily and me would still be alive! He's just a murderer like the others had been and he'll kill again and cause pain by that..So I can't do anything against this than that.."

He took a lighter out of his pocket and approached to SilverBullet, who was still fighting with the crow.

"I've asked you one question, remember? I wanted to know if you know how it feels like to be burned to death.I guess you can't even imagine. So can't I ..but soon you'll know."

He held the flame to the old man's clothes and watched the flames crawling over his body. SilverBullet screamed as if he was going mad of pain, but that didn't do anything to Jason.

"Hope, you'll enjoy your trip to hell," he told him.

When the fire reached SilverBullets face, he stopped screaming.

Soon he died.

After a while the flames on the dead body went out, but there was still the sound and the smell of fire in the room.

When they looked above hearing the noise of a bird's wings, Jason and Bethany caught sight of the crow, who was also burning, like a phoenix in an old legend.

Suddenly Bethany felt her own skin aching, nevertheless she wasn't afraid, it was more like something inside telling her that she wasn't going to die.

Soon she recognized the voice that had talked to her:"You've been brave, girl and you've also done what I told you, but the crow is dead..and so is your soul."

The voice started laughing in a mad way. "...And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted -- nevermore."

She felt the powers and the cold leaving her body.

And there was pain, so much pain ...

Then she became unconscious, fell in some kind of coma.

Jason wasn't sure what to do and yelled:"That's not fair! She tried to help me and now you let her die! You can't do that! "

"She isn't going to die, she's still alive. And she'll be O.K. when she awakes, if she really wants to. But I can't promise ...But for you it's time to go now."

Suddenly Jason felt warm and well.

At the same time he got weak and powerless, but that didn't do anything to him, because he heard Lily talking to him...

He closed his eyes as his soul and life left his body.

**Chapter 11 :**

_  
3 months later_

The nurse stroke Bethany's head, though the girl didn't seem to react.

"Poor girl," she told a colleague she met outside the room. "I don't know what has happened to her, but it must have been something very serious... When she was brought here, she talked something strange about birds and dead people's resurrection, but since a month or so she has stopped talking. I even don't know if she notices us. I'd like to help her, but I don't know how..."

Meanwhile Bethany sat in the locked room, staring at the walls.

During her fist time here, her face had always been hid behind her long hair, but then the people had cut it off.

Anyhow, she wasn't angry on them at all, she was conscious they just wanted to help her.

But she also knew that that wasn't possible.

The twilight after sunset was still shining on her face.

But soon, when the light had gone, her face would be covered by shadows, the shadows of wings.

The wings of the dark bird watching over her.

**-End-**


End file.
